• The Transect: A diagram of diversity

    The inspiration for this iconic drawing was a walk from the beach over the dunes and into the scrub woodlands in the early days of Seaside, Florida. Douglas Duany, landscape architect, explained the natural transect to architect Andres Duany, who made a connection between nature and urban form...Read more

  • A tail of woe

    Heinrich Kley was a German illustrator active in the early 20th Century who was noted for darkly humorous pen-and-ink drawings. He sometimes focused on the conflicts of new technologies—such as motor vehicles competing for space on city streets with pedestrians. Architectural writer David Brussat...Read more

  • No infrastructure repair

    After spending two weeks driving in France, I was impressed by the quality of the roads. The asphalt surface seemed far superior to US roads, as I did not experience the rhythmic bumps that I am used to when driving in America. By US standards the cost of gasoline was exorbitant and my empirical...Read more

  • LA's parking crater

    A recent study in the Journal of the American Planning Association estimates there are 18.6 million parking spots in Los Angeles County, which would cover an area 16 miles in diameter if combined in a single 200-square-mile parking lot. Even spread throughout the region, these parking spaces are a...Read more